Why Most People Are Retiring on Less Than They Should Be
According to the Pensions Policy Institute, the average UK retiree receives just 58% of the retirement income they actually need for a moderate standard of living. That gap — worth tens of thousands of pounds over a typical 25-year retirement — is not caused by insufficient saving alone. It is caused overwhelmingly by a lack of coordinated, expert oversight of the three pillars that together determine retirement income: the State Pension, workplace pensions, and private arrangements.
Most individuals engage with each pillar separately, reactively, and without a clear picture of how they interact. They claim their State Pension without knowing whether they have maximised their National Insurance record. They leave pension pots with former employers for years, paying ongoing charges on dormant accounts while investment performance drifts. They miss annual tax relief opportunities worth hundreds or thousands of pounds. They access pensions without a withdrawal strategy, paying avoidable income tax on every payment.
A Pension Programme Consultation from Pauras addresses all of this in a single structured engagement. Our analysis consistently identifies £3,000–£8,000 per year in additional retirement income opportunities for clients who have not previously received specialist advice. Over a 25-year retirement, that difference is worth £75,000–£200,000.
What We Cover — In Detail
Our consultation is a deep, specialist review structured around the specific complexity of UK pension legislation as it applies to your individual circumstances. Every area below receives dedicated attention from your assigned specialist:
- National Insurance Record Audit: We obtain your full NI record from HMRC and systematically review every qualifying year, gap year, and credit period. We calculate your precise State Pension entitlement and identify every gap that can be cost-effectively filled with voluntary contributions before the filing window closes.
- State Pension Forecast and Optimisation: We model the financial impact of different retirement dates, deferral periods, and voluntary contribution strategies to identify the approach that maximises your lifetime State Pension income — accounting for the triple lock, transitional entitlements, and overseas uprating rules where applicable.
- Workplace Pension Inventory and Assessment: We identify every current and historical workplace pension arrangement — including those you may have forgotten following employer changes — and assess each for charge levels, investment performance, and protective benefits such as guaranteed annuity rates.
- Private Pension and SIPP Review: We review existing private arrangements for contribution efficiency, fund suitability, charge competitiveness, and alignment with your risk profile and investment timeline.
- Tax Relief and Annual Allowance Analysis: We calculate whether you are claiming all available tax relief, whether carry-forward allowance from previous years is available, whether the tapered annual allowance applies to your income level, and whether salary sacrifice or salary exchange could improve contribution efficiency.
- Projected Retirement Income Modelling: Using current values and realistic growth assumptions, we project your total retirement income across multiple retirement age scenarios — showing clearly the gap between your current trajectory and your stated objectives, with specific recommendations for closing it.
- Pension Access Strategy: For those approaching or at retirement, we model phased versus lump-sum withdrawal strategies, the optimal sequencing of tax-free lump sums, and the interaction between pension income and other taxable income sources.
- Written Strategy Report: Every consultation concludes with a personalised written report containing our analysis, specific recommendations ranked by financial impact, implementation timeline, cost estimates, and projected outcomes. This document is yours to retain, act on, and review annually.
The Six-Step Consultation Process
Step 1 — Free Initial Call (30 minutes): A brief telephone conversation to understand your situation, known pension arrangements, and primary concerns. This call costs nothing and carries no obligation. Its purpose is to confirm that a full consultation will deliver genuine value for your circumstances before any commitment is made.
Step 2 — Information Gathering: We provide a structured questionnaire covering employment history, known pension providers, NI contribution history, and retirement objectives. We guide you through obtaining your NI record from the HMRC online portal — a process that takes most clients under ten minutes.
Step 3 — Specialist Analysis (5–7 working days): Your assigned specialist reviews all information, requests pension transfer values where appropriate, verifies your NI record against projected entitlement, and builds your personalised retirement income model. This is where our expertise delivers its primary value.
Step 4 — Consultation Meeting (60–90 minutes): We present findings in a structured meeting — by telephone or video call — walking through your current position, explaining every recommendation in plain English, and answering every question thoroughly.
Step 5 — Written Report Delivery: Within three working days, we deliver your personalised written strategy report: analysis, recommendations, supporting calculations, and implementation action plan.
Step 6 — Implementation Support: Following your report, your specialist provides a dedicated implementation support period — assisting with voluntary NI contribution processing, pension transfer initiation, new arrangement establishment, and follow-up with providers and HMRC as required.
The Cost of Not Getting Advice — A Real-World Illustration
Consider a typical client situation: a 54-year-old professional, three employer pension pots totalling £140,000, four gaps in their NI record from a period of part-time work, and no pension contributions since moving to self-employment three years ago.
Without advice, this individual retires with a reduced State Pension (permanently missing approximately £25 per week), continues paying duplicate management charges across three pots, misses three years of unused pension annual allowance carry-forward during their highest-earning period, and accesses their pension without a tax strategy.
With a Pauras consultation, the same individual: fills four NI gaps for £3,297 — adding £1,300 per year to their State Pension for life; consolidates three pots, saving £840 per year in charges; makes a carry-forward contribution receiving £72,000 in higher-rate tax relief; and implements a phased drawdown strategy saving approximately £2,200 per year in income tax. Measured over a 25-year retirement, the total financial benefit of these decisions routinely exceeds £150,000. The consultation fee is recovered within the first months of retirement.
Who Benefits Most
Our pension consultation delivers exceptional value across a wide range of client situations. The following groups benefit most significantly:
- People within 5–15 years of planned retirement: This is the critical optimisation window. The highest-impact strategies — voluntary NI contributions, tax-relief carry-forward, consolidation — require time to implement. Acting at 54 rather than 64 can be worth tens of thousands in lifetime income.
- Those with multiple employers across their career: Three or more employers typically means at least one lost, inefficient, or over-charged pension arrangement. Our inventory and assessment identifies every arrangement and its current status.
- Self-employed individuals and business owners: Self-employment creates specific NI contribution complexity, SIPP structuring decisions, and interactions between business income and personal pension planning that require specialist handling.
- International workers and expats: Those who have worked in multiple countries face reciprocal social security agreements, overseas contribution counting, and cross-border tax implications requiring specialist expertise. We handle these cases regularly.
- Anyone who has never received specialist pension advice: Research shows those who receive professional pension guidance retire on substantially higher incomes — not because they saved more, but because their decisions at key junctures were strategically sound. Our consultation provides that strategic framework.
Your Adviser: Named, Qualified, and Independent
At Pauras, every client is assigned a named adviser who holds recognised pension qualifications, maintains continuous professional development in line with FCA requirements, and brings between eight and twenty-two years of direct pension advisory experience to every engagement. You will not be passed between departments or handled by junior staff. Your specialist knows your complete financial picture and applies that knowledge consistently throughout our relationship.
We are independent of every pension provider, fund manager, and financial product platform. Our recommendations are determined solely by your financial interests — not by referral income, commission, or commercial relationships. This independence is the foundation of the trust our clients place in us, and it is reflected in a 97% client retention rate and a consistent track record of measurable, documented outcomes.
The initial consultation call is provided entirely free of charge. We demonstrate our value before asking for any commitment. Contact us today — a specialist will respond within one business day.